Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday to dash Mercedes' hopes of extending their dominance into a fourth successive season of Formula One.

The German cruised to his 43rd race victory with a 9.9 second gap to Mercedes' runner-up Lewis Hamilton, with the Briton's new teammate, Valtteri Bottas, finishing third.

On Firstpost Pole Position, Formula 1 bloggers Kunal Shah and Mithila Mehta analysed all the action from the season-opening race in Melbourne. "I think this was a surprising result. It was probably the most-awaited race victory for Formula 1, for Sebastian Vettel and for Ferrari. A fantastic result, and hopefully, it will deliver well for us for the 2017 season ahead as well," Shah said about the German's first win since the Singapore GP in September 2015 .

"Hopefully, this sets the tone for the rest of the season. Mercedes' pace all through pre-season testing, and qualifying indicated that they would be in front of things. This is a happy surprise. It is a relief for a lot of fans. Luckily, we don't have to look forward to a season where it's only going to be a Mercedes 1-2. It's exciting for all of us as fans. It gives us more reasons to tune in," Mehta added.

Talking about Ferrari's successful strategy at Albert Park, Shah said, "I am usually very nervous about Ferrari's tyre strategy, for obvious. And when they left Vettel out for those few extra laps, I was worried but it worked out well. Thank you very much, Max Verstappen, for holding Hamilton back."

"Speaking of Verstappen, that guy has this ability to show up and completely throw things off. He's like a wildcard. Even if it's a Mercedes vs Ferrari battle, you have to keep your eyes out for Verstappen and what he can do," Mehta said.

A special shout-out to Esteban Ocan for his brilliant debut for Force India, and his impressive three-abreast overtaking move. Force India scored seven points in Melbourne as Sergio Perez raced to a seventh-place finish, while Esteban Ocon scored his first point in Formula 1 with a strong drive to 10th place.

Watch the entire episode in the video above to know more about all that went down in the first race of the Formula 1 2017 season.